The largest sustained engagement between Americans and Chinese that ever occurred in China took place during the 1940s. During this period, individual American and Chinese soldiers, scientists, nurses, and truck drivers, among many others, came together to collaborate in the fight against Japan. These interactions had a resonating impact: shaping popular perceptions of China and the United States, impacting the development of new and powerful institutions, and creating new markets and demands that would transform both countries and indeed much of East Asia. Yet, we know surprisingly little about these important grassroots interactions between Americans and Chinese. This conference, Sino-American Relations at the Grassroots, is an attempt to shine a direct light on the interactions between Americans and Chinese at all levels of the socio-economic spectrum in the 1940s. Focusing on grassroots perspectives rather than elite politics enables us to explore a wide range of Sino-American encounters during this period, from interaction between ordinary American servicemen and Chinese civilians to the trans-Pacific material exchange of American industrial goods for Chinese raw materials. Other themes include transnational disease control, intelligence and scientific collaboration, educational exchange, and the subjective experience of war. In addition to discussing current research, we plan to outline a framework for further study on the 1940s.
Participants
Mary Augusta Brazelton, University Lecturer, University of Cambridge
Du Chunmei, associate professor of Chinese history at Lingnan University.
Zach Fredman, assistant professor of history at Duke Kunshan University.
Judd Kinzley, associate professor of Chinese history at University of Wisconsin Madison.
Li Wankun, Ph.D. candidate at the School of History, University of Leeds.
Covell Meyskens, assistant professor of national security affairs at the Naval Postgraduate School.
Jack Neubauer, Ph.D. candidate in history at Columbia University.
Ren Ke, assistant professor of Chinese history at Holy Cross.
Linh Vu, assistant professor of Chinese history at Arizona State University.
Xiao Ruping, professor of modern Chinese history at Zhejiang University.
Yang Zhiguo, Department Chair and professor of history at University of Wisconsin River Falls.
Zheng Yanqiu, assistant professor of Chinese history at Misericordia University.
Zhang Ruisheng, Ph.D. candidate in history at Purdue University.
Program
*All events in Room 1095, Conference Center, Duke Kunshan University except where noted.
Thursday, July 11, 2019
1900-2100 Cocktail Reception, Hamburger Bar, Kunshan Crowne Plaza
Friday, July 12, 2019
0730-0900 Breakfast at the Kunshan Crowne Plaza
0915 Shuttle departs from Crowne Plaza to Duke Kunshan University
1000-1200 Panel One: Soldiers
Du Chunmei, “Jeep Girls and American Servicemen in Post-World War II China.”
Zach Fredman, “Looting Taiwan: The American Civil Affairs Officer and the Missing Japanese Army Gold.”
Linh Vu, “Corporeal Sovereignty: Bones, Burials, and the Biopolitics of the Sino-American Alliance.
1200-1315 Lunch, Executive Dining Hall
1330-1545 Panel Two: Students and Activists
Jack Neubauer, “Intimate Diplomacy: Humanitarianism and Sino-American Relations in the 1940s.”
Ren Ke, “American Pacifists and the War in China, 1937–1941.”
Yang Zhiguo, “US Marines and Student Protest in Qingdao, 1945–1949.”
Zheng Yanqiu, “Effective in a Small Wat: The China Institute in American and the Student Turn in Sino-U.S. Relations in the 1940s.”
1545-1615 Snack Break
1645-1800 Pre-Dinner Drinks, Jim’s Bar
1815-2000 Dinner at Dayu Haitang Restaurant
2015 Shuttle departs from CC Lobby to Kunshan Crowne Plaza Hotel
Saturday, July 13, 2019
0900 Shuttle departs from Crowne Plaza to Duke Kunshan University
0945-1145 Panel Three: Traders and Diplomats
Judd Kinzley, “Chinese Feathers and the American War Effort: Constructing a Global Resource Regime, 1941–1945.”
Li Wankun, “Chinese Oil and the Global War: The Transformation of the Wartime Economy to the Planned Economy in Chongqing, 1937–1953.”
Xiao Ruping, “危局中的政治选择：顾维钧与1949.”
1145-1300 Lunch, Executive Dining Hall
1315-1515 Panel Four: Technicians
Mary Augusta Brazelton, “Technologies of Civil Aviation and Sino-American Relations, 1930–1949.”
Covell Meyskens, “Hydraulic Dreams: Chinese and American Planning for the Three Gorges Dam, 1920–1949.”
Zhang Ruisheng, “Cultivating Red China’s Agricultural Engineers: Research on the Cooperation between the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry and the International Harvester Company.”
1530-1600 Snack Break
1600-1800 Plenary Session: Next Steps
1815 Shuttle departs from AB Lobby to Jiangnan Shouxi
1845-2030 Dinner at Jiangnan Shouxi
2040 Shuttle departs Jiangnan Shouxi for Crowne Plaza
